


The Last Full Measure

by oldtrustylegs



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldtrustylegs/pseuds/oldtrustylegs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichabod Crane ponders the meaning of his devotion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Full Measure

The historian in him was obsessed with learning the past of the present in which he found himself.  His quest started when Miss Mills told him of the appalling fate that had befallen the natives who had so readily aided the colonists in their cause; a cause for which he, too, had been persuaded to lay down his life. 

Ichabod moved slowly through the historical record; whenever he had a moment to spare, he could be found trying to piece together the story.  Ideally, a story that reflected the virtues for which he had turned his back on his homeland.  There _were_ moments of glory.  But there were also wide swathes of hatred and prejudice: Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts, secession and the Civil War, Jim Crow, exclusionary immigration policies, segregation, McCarthy, race riots.  His mind reeled at the injustice of it all.  Notwithstanding his recent resurrection, he had, in a way, given his life for this nation and he wondered if it had been worth it. 

And then, one night as he sat reading in the sheriff’s cabin, he came upon a speech.  It was short.  Not even three hundred words.  It was the last sentence that truly struck him: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  He turned that phrase over in his mind for the rest of the night, “the last full measure of devotion.” 

Ichabod awoke the following morning, still wondering if the people of this modern age remembered this man and his speech.  If they still took to heart his exhortation that the “honored dead” be remembered for their devotion.  That their sacrifice be seen not as a waste, but as a testament to the righteousness of a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

“Leftenant,” Ichabod greeted Abbie when she arrived for their daily search through Sheriff Corbin’s extensive records.  He stepped back from the door to allow her entrance.

“Crane,” she said, eyeing him warily, wondering what fresh hell the day would unleash upon the pair of them.

“Have you ever heard of the Gettysburg Address?” He asked, hands clasped behind his back, feeling rather like he was back in his lecture hall again.

She smirked and took a deep breath.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…”

As she continued, he smiled in response.  Yes, he decided, it had been worth it.


End file.
